Interesting baseball headline this morning about Oswalt

[Jstas]

http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100729&content_id=12760192&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi

Seems the Phillies are pressing the issue and everybody is happy about the trade conditions. Phillies would unload Happ who has been struggling and needs a change and pick up Oswalt, arguably one of the best pitchers in the league right now if it wasn't for the rest of the Astros sucking so much.

If Oswalt comes to Philly, that'll be a pretty stacked bullpen. If they could just unload Hole Camels now and maybe replace him with...say...Cliff Lee? That'd be a hell of a pitching staff.

[Jstas]

Just saw that Jayson Stark from ESPN.com says "Sounds like he said OK - Roy Oswalt plans to OK deal to Phillies, source says. But deal not official yet. More to come on ESPN.com"

It's not official yet but if so, that's big news!

[zombie boy 2000]

This is going to be one helluva pennant race between the Phils and Bravos. Quite looking forward to it.

[Jstas]

Yeah, Phillies are only 3.5 games back right now and they play the Nationals for the next 3 games. Atlanta plays Cinncy in Cinncy. That's a tough chore for any team in the league right now. The Reds have been on fire lately. If Philly wipes the floor with the Nats and Atlanta loses even one game to the Reds, the deficit could move to 2 games or less. That is entirely possible. It's also possible that the Reds sweep Atlanta and that would put Atlanta 1.5 games back if Philly sweeps the Nats.

Sweeping the Nats is a strong possibility too. The Nationals lost Strasburg to the DL. That's a shame. I hope it's not a long stint. He was on a pretty good roll there for a while.

[zombie boy 2000]

Actually... we're playing the Nats at this very moment.

[Jstas]

Yeah and the Phillies are playing the D-backs tonight. If they win, they sweep. Kendrick is pitching tonight and after his recent bout ofsuckitude, he's got the worry meter dancin' pretty high. Especially since he;s going up against the D-backs newly acquired "ace" from Anaheim.

But the Phillies still have big bats, even with Victorino and Utley out. Rollins may or may not play tonight, he's day by day. But Cody Ransom has been paying off and Domonic Brown served up an impressive ML debut last night too. We'll see what happens. I'm not calling it a Phillies win 'cause if I do, I'll get mud on my face. But this should be an exciting August!

[Jstas]

Apparently, the Phillies will be welcoming another star pitcher named Roy.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5420095

[zombie boy 2000]

That's major and I can't say I'm too happy. Wren was hinting at picking up a big bat at the deadline. Hopefully the Braves won't sit on what they have after seeing the Phils make such a splash. Gonzalez was a good pick up. Someone like Corey Hart would be a GREAT pick up. We'll see....

[Jstas]

I also saw that the Phillies did not give up Singleton. He's the next Ryan Howard. The Astros wanted him bad. Kid's got a big bat and a decent first baseman. Still kinda young but glad to see. The Astros got Happ, and two minor leaguers, Gose and Villar I think it is? Not too bad of a deal. Gose is an outfielder with a fairly consistent bat. Leads the Class A Florida State League with a .263 avg and 110 hits.

The Braves are comin' to town on the 23rd through the 26th. They may wish they were back in Hotlanta to get away from all the heat Philly's bringing!

[zombie boy 2000]

And that's the problem. The Braves are two completely different teams home and away.

[Slinger182]

I'm still trying to figure out why the Phillies traded Cliff Lee.. "The Dalai Lama" Peter Gammons had a hard time comming up with a bad reason.

[Jstas]

And that's the problem. The Braves are two completely different teams home and away.

Well, they do get the Phillies at home for the last series of the regular season. That may be a playoff series itself if they are vying for playoff berth.

[hearingimpared]

Whew, man the Phils have been giving me agida lately. Good to hear.

[Jstas]

I'm still trying to figure out why the Phillies traded Cliff Lee.. "The Dalai Lama" Peter Gammons had a hard time comming up with a bad reason.

I'm so sick of hearing about the Cliff Lee trade. Lee was let go because he commanded serious money. The Phillies couldn't afford him and they had to let him go. He was nursing a nagging injury too even though he was still pitching spectacularly. Within 9 months after trading him, he was out for two. The Phillies would have dropped double digit millions on a pitcher who would have played for them for a total of 15 months in two seasons and done nothing to help them. Not for lack of trying but the pitching staff was full of kids and one ace who was floundering with an over-the-hill ace who was also floundering. Lee couldn't be superman and save the team and Rueben HAD to do something to get the money back so he could get roster back down from outer space. To do that, he had to bail on Lee. Besides, if Lee stayed, his contract was up this year and Philly still wouldn't be able to pay him and he'd be out the door on free agency anyhow.

Trading Lee got them their pay ceiling back and they were able to give long time stars what they wanted and honestly deserved. They maintained a team that has been consistently good and is now considered a perennial contender. Add to that the fact that without Lee they got Halladay and could afford to pay him. Halladay is a better deal.

Now they have Oswalt. Have you seen Oswalt pitch? He is as good as a Cliff Lee or a Roy Halladay. He was stuck on a team that has no bats. No hit support means that even though youonly gave up 1 run, you still lose 'cause your team of douchebags can't hit the ball. He has been on the DL once in 10 years and he has a lifetime W/L of 143 wins and 82 losses with a career ERA of 3.24. He's a stud pitcher in his prime and worth every penny. He's now on a team with some serious depth in the batting box and a pitching rotation that has top league stars in the 1-2 spots with a few young, consistent pitchers in the 3-5 spots. They have decent relievers and two closers, one has won a World Series.

Besides, Werth is likely out the door next year chasing the money with his free agency. They will have piles of money then and I'll bet Lee is back on his game, sick of the do-nothing Rangers and looking to jump. Rueben will likely go after him and a couple other bats to shore up the line-up.

[Slinger182]

Well you're probably sick of hearing about it because it was a bad move. You're the first person I've heard defend it. The fact that they went out and got Oswalt proves it was a bad move. Lee is getting paid 9 million for this season. 9 million? He's only given up 7 walks! In about 140 innings!!! 7!

Don't get me wrong I think Oswalt is awesome I've been watching him mow down my Cubs for a long time and would love to have him on our team. Especially when he doesn't have his best stuff, the guy is awesome at keeping his team in the game.

If you had 1 game to win who would you take? Oswalt or Lee? I'd take Lee any day and Halladay twice on Sundays.

[Jstas]

A single pitcher does not a team make.

Lee was traded so they wouldn't lose the other players on the team commanding high pay. Lee was brought on to win a World Series. He won his games. The other pitchers didn't. If it was me the thing I would have done different was unload Hole Camels. But that still wouldn't have solved the money problem.

You can think losing Lee was a bad deal but if they kept Lee there would be no Halladay and no Oswalt now either. I'll take a Halladay and an Oswalt over a Lee any day. Sorry for being reasonable and pragmatic about it. Lee is very good. But I'd rather have a bullpen full of consistent pitchers than one really great one and 4 sucktastic ones.

[Slinger182]

I think they could've had Lee and Halladay this year.

Now they have Halladay and they have to pay Oswalt 12 million next year?

[Jstas]

WOW! Braves lost, just couldn't get the bats alive, Philly wins in the 11th in what could have been an exciting end and now it narrows to 2.5 games!

Pennant race is ON!

[Slinger182]

What's the word on Utley?

[Slinger182]

Twins get Capps, Padres get Tejada and Rangers get Cantu aren't the rangers bankrupt?

[Jstas]

Nice write up from Verducci about the Oswalt trade.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/tom_verducci/07/29/oswalt.trade/index.html?eref=sihp&xid=shareFB

For those of the world who don't get the Cliff Lee trade, if Lee wasn't traded, Amaro wouldn't have had the talent and prospects available to play for Oswalt or the money to afford Halladay AND still pay his biggest bat on the team. It just made business sense and for a team that everybody thinks is "win now" it was a decent bit of forward thinking. It paid off yesterday with the Oswalt trade and if Werth bails for free agency and the big paycheck, it'll pay off even more next year.


As far as Utley, he's injured. He'll be back when he's back. Rollins was warming up to pinch hit last night but Charlie put Gload in instead.

And that Nats trading Capps stunned me. I couldn't believe it but there it is. I dunno if they got anything worth while in that deal. The only thing I can think is that it freed up some money and made room for developing talent. The Nationals have a pretty healthy farm system including two teams in the Dominican Republic so they will be able to filter talent through but unless they start grabbing some seasoned vets in their prime they will be perpetually "building" and then trading away the talent when they get too costly.

[Jstas]

Oh, yeah, Rangers are bankrupt but they sprung for Cliff Lee earlier in the year too. Got him cheap 'cause he was injured. Phillies should have traded Hole Camels for him at the time 'cause Lee wasn't commanding a large price tag after coming off of surgery with an uncertain future.